Notes / Commercial Description:
Les Bons Voeux means best wishes, which is what Brasserie Dupont sends with this very special saison ale brewed for the holidays. Redolently aromatic, rich and velvety.

Rich gold color, fragrant (lemony with hints of pepper, banana and clove), as all the beers of Dupont are with a full, deep malt richness that lingers on your tongue for what seems the whole holiday season. Considered by some the finest offering from this unparalleled Brewery. “The best Belgian beer, if ever there could be such an award...a sumptuous, seductive 9.5% beer. Because of it’s intensity, I would recommend the novice graduate to this beer. However, if a saison that is starting to lean towards being a triple appeals to you, and if its in season, don’t hesitate.”

More User Reviews:

Served in a Nonic pint glass. Glass of cold water on the side to sip from periodically. The 2009 bottling.

Appearance: The beer pours out a slightly hazy honey gold color with a 2" thick creamy, frothy white head which leaves rings and patches of lacing clinging to the glass. Later on during the beer sipping continues to leave patches of foam sticking to the glass. Even to the end of the beer there is a layer of foam on the liquid and patches, speckles and legs of lacing rings and speckles and legs of foam and lacing on the sides of the glass

Smell: The aroma invades the room even as the bottle is opened. It has a yeasty, grassy, slightly sharp and spicy (coriander and pepper) character. There is also some citrus, pale malt and slightly earthy character here.

Taste: The several flavors come and go on this one. There is fruitiness, with hints of apple and lemon zest (and maybe even a touch of orange zest) and some light honeyed sweetness. There is spiciness with some elements like coriander and pepper. In the background there is pale malt and some grassy traces. While there is a touch of alcohol it is not easy to detect.

Mouthfeel: The mouth feel on this one is light bodied and very smooth with excellent prickly carbonation. The medium length finish starts in the fruity sweetness and ends in a crisp dry tart bitterness.

Drinkability: This beer is a "poster child" for drinkability. It is a wonderful beer with incredible complexity and subtlety. There are so many flavors bouncing in and out of this one and the sweetness and the tartness blend and play and dance around and around in a way that almost leaves the head spinning. Oh wait... Maybe that's the high ABV that sneaks up on you. A dangerously drinkable beer in that it would be very easy to consume too much of this one. However, I'm also sure I'll be having more of this one, both to finish off this bottle and to drink again in the future.

Appearance  Light yellow with a tinge of orange is the coloring for this extremely cloudy brew. The head had to be worked a little but what came up stayed for quite a while. No lacing, probably due to the 9.5 ABV.

Smell  A lot of spices in this one. The aroma is very powdery (probably tastes that way, too). Theres some stiff malt and yeast in there as well and a little bitter hops to balance things out, but this is your typical spicy BSPA. The coriander is very present, along with some pepper and a few others that I cant pinpoint.

Taste  The deep, mature, yeast flavor kicks into high gear at the taste. The spices some out in full force as well. Theres an interesting rind hop punch to this one that balances things out. I think its the first of this Ive tasted for the style, but it all works really well.

Mouthfeel  Heavily carbonated with a slight alcohol sting on the tongue. Yes, its a BSPA from Belgium.

Drinkability  Nice, authentic rendition of the style. This went down quite well. Anyone with a, BigBelgiumBrethern, or, BelgiumBeers4Me, handle has to try this one.

Comments  TheLongBeachBum wrote a winner of a review on this one and rated it two tenths higher than me. He said it a lot more eloquently than I did. His is a, must read, if youre thinking about trying this ale.

375 ml green cork and cage bottle served into a chalice. Purchased from the LCBO for $7 CDN. Best before August 2021, so this might be a little early to crack this, but lets give a shot anyway.

Appearance - Pours an extremely hazy rich golden colored beer. Straw highlights and a thin layer of foam on top that dissipates quickly leaving a tiny frothy wisp of foam.

Smell - Slightly skunked (unlikely) or maybe that's just barnyard funk. There's also a champagne element, white wine and some earthiness. The yeast smell is very well hidden. Complex and hard to wrap your head around everything going on here.

Taste - Earthy to the point where the only beer that outdoes this is Orval.Middling bitterness and a subtle taste of honey. Candi sugar and the Belgian yeast shows up significantly more. White pepper and orchard fruits maybe. Every sip seems different.

Mouthfeel - Magical. Little bubbles explode on your tongue like rice krispies popping. Well carbonated and super dry finish. Outrageously smooth and booze is imperceptible except for a slow burn at the back of throat warning you this isn't for lightweights.

Overall - While Brasserie Dupont is synonymous with its well regarded saison, Avec Les Bons Voeux is just... something else. Nearly impossible (for amateurs like myself) to describe, sensational mouthfeel and a classic Belgian saison aroma and taste but amped up in complexity, this is a beer that every Beer Advocate has to try. Must pick up another couple bottles for aging purposes.

Avec Les Bons Voeux vertical (2005, 2008, and 2009) served at a tasting. Green bottles served into Samuel Smith's nonic glasses. Consumed from recent to distant. Expectations were high. Reviewed from notes.

A: Pours a half finger beige colour head of amazing (10+ minute) retention. Body colour is a milky caramel. Quite creamy. Head is amazingly luscious, creamy, and nicely thick. Looks almost like a creamy scottish ale in the vein of Belhaven. Gorgeous. The '05 is lighter, almost a yellow colour.

T: Milky notes, caramel, palte malts, subtle brett yeasts, honey, heavy floral character, and a bit of white pepper. Pineapple is as subtle as ever; that's difficult to do. Yeasty clove. Nectar. The floral character is amazing. A bit imbalanced in its age, but very unique for a saison. The '05 has delicate fruit notes evocative of the delicacy of something like Westvleteren.

A medium yellow, strong straw colored beer forms a rocky, stark white head that persists beyond the session and laces wonderfully all the way. Only a mild haze keeps it from brilliant clarity. Strong efforvescence gives a lot of life to the beer and tickles the nose as the first sip is taken.

The beer begins with large fruitiness (lemons, apples, white grapes, oranges, pineapple, and mangos) and sweet pilsner malts (bready and fresh). A light tartness and sweaty note blends wonderfully into a spicy, peppery, earthy taste that increases in hop flavor, bitterness, and earthiness as the beer fades into the finish. Spicy phenols give hints of cumin and white pepper while the alcohols add power to the warm alcohols and amplify the bite of hops.

Delightfully sweet and full up front, largely because of the full carbonaiton that lifts the beer from the tongue. The fizz gives a medium prickle to the mouth and helps to dry the beer in the end. Though dry in the finish, the beer's fruity and sweet memory returns in the aftertaste and never interferes with the spicy and dry finish.

It's great to see how these classic Saisons give a clean spiciness and fruitiness while retaining a dryness from mid-palate on. With just enough musty Belgian character to create intrigue without dominating the subtle yeast character is what separates these from immitators.

A nice find at the deli I must say,poursa lighter shade of gold with a huge blossoming head that has moved down an inch as of yet,the aroma is lightly smokey with almost a cinnamon spicey quality.Taste is smnokey with some real medicinal hints with a malty finish and after taste wich came out well,this beer has some serious complexity to it.A real nice change of pace here nice to have before bed.

Presentation: 375 ml corked bottle with freshness date on the label (best before July 2013).

Appearance: The pour is golden orange with straw hues - it almost looks like it's glowing. Ivory-colored, big and creamy head that sticks around for a while before settling and leaving some foam on top of the brew and chunky lacings on the glass. A good looking beer.

Smell: Sharp medicinal phenols mix with a general spiciness and a smell of sweet citrus fruits. Faint smell of yeast as well. Despite plenty of phenols and tangy spices, the smell is rather fresh and pleasant.

Taste: Big taste of medicinal phenols - distinct taste of band-Aids - and prominent spices (cloves, and perhaps white pepper?). Together with an unexpectedly big presence of alcohol this results in a interesting and pleasant - but still quite demanding - hotness. All of these tangy and sharp flavors are balanced by a taste of sweet fruits - mostly orange and lemon peel, but also pineapple - and faint malts. No funky flavors to speak of. The finish is dry with a more spices, minimal hop bitterness and a bit of a twang from the alcohol. This one develops very nicely towards the end: It gets a little less edgy, more round and balanced, as the sweet fruit flavors becomes more prominent.

Mouthfeel: Medium body, plenty of carbonation and all in all quite dry. But it still has a semi-smooth feel to it.

Drinkability: A very good beer. Quite tasty as well. The big medicinal phenols and spiciness coupled with the sweet fruits makes it truly interesting, but also a bit demanding. Although it drinks really easily and is quite refreshing, the alcohol and the spices becomes a little too prominent and somewhat demanding after a while.

NOTE: Will cellar a couple of these to see how they turn out. I'm especially interested to see how the balance between the alcohol and spices develops.

The pour on this beer is a beautiful milky maize color with a sturdy white head. The lacing remains through out the glass full. The aroma was average at best,not giving me much else but the ABV. The initial taste was bland reminiscent of a mass produced imported ale. I just couldn't find anything about this beer that made it stand out. I served it with a citrusy desert whose character compensated for the lack of character given by this Dupont offering.

T-M- The taste is a smooth and sweet lemongrass flavor with a mix of musky yeast and malts noted. Herbal spice is felt in the backbone. Mouthfeel is slick and highly carbonated making it easy to put down the 9.5% alcohol content.

Overall this is a good showing of the style and is very drinkable dispite the heavy alcohol content... Cheers~!

A special Saison brewed for the holidays, and perhaps for the winter, as it touts a hefty punch. Not sure if the extra alcohol does it much justice though. Clearly it’s a decent sip, but more of a sharing and pairing offering, as it seems bit lost on its own.

750ml bottle. 2002 on the cork. Pours a quite hazy peachy yellow into my glass with a beautiful two finger head of white foam. Good, steady carbonation. Looks great in the glass. Aromas of light toasted grains met by a mellow mustiness. Spicy tones along with a nice mix of light fruit aromas, especially lemon. Good stuff.

First sip brings a grainy, lightly sweet maltiness upfront that is quickly met by a spicy pepper aspect along with a wonderful mix of tropical and citrus fruit tones. Flows down with a slight funkiness and a touch of alcohol in the finish. A bit dry overall, but still tasty stuff.

Mouthfeel is on the lighter side with an explosive carbonation. This one goes down incredibly easily for a 9.5% abv. A throughly enjoyable saison from Dupont and one of the benchmarks for the style. I will need to get another fresh bottle soon! (As a side note, the final yeast pour amplifies the flavor profile greatly and adds a bit of smoothness as well.)